faderift | terror takes the sound before you make it

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terror takes the sound before you make it

WHO: New rifters & characters in the Fallow Mire
WHAT: More people falling into the bog than usual
WHEN: Firstall 21
WHERE: The Fallow Mire
NOTES: This rift will open just as the Inquisition manages to close another with the assistance of previously-arrived rifters, and reinforcements will be called in quickly, so everyone in the Mire is welcome.

You were asleep--deeply or fitfully, for the last time or just resting your eyes for a moment-- and then you were not. And wherever you were was not, anymore, replaced by nothing but the sensation of falling, tumbling into endless, bottomless nothing. If this were still a dream, you would wake before you hit the ground. You can't die in a dream, they say. In some worlds.

But there's no waking here, just a flare of green-white light and a jarring impact, a plunge into waist-deep water that smells sour and tastes worse. It's raining, dark, and you are not alone. Others splash into the murky water nearby, as bewildered as you, and those who have already found their footing in the muck are no less confused.

You are also not as you were: in the palm of your left hand there glows a narrow splinter of light the same sickly green as whatever brought you here. It aches, a bone-deep pain that gnaws even through all the distractions. Like the freezing water. Or the fact that you're being attacked by monsters--some tall, spindly stick-things with too many eyes, some hunched and hooded with no eyes at all. Every splash into the water and every thrash thereafter brings wakened corpses rising out of the bog with their old weapons still in hand.

From dry land--near a small cluster of homes, one with firelight--there's a shout, then another, where Inquisition forces had just closed a larger rift and begun to regroup when the Veil split open again across the bog. A few arrows are loosed at the demons that look most likely to succeed in killing someone. Help is on its way; just last until it arrives.

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Maybe she should bring Lux with her more here, even if the mud will stick to his coat because she could do with something warm in her arms as she sighs, glancing beyond him. All this activity is likely to stir the undead too and one of them needs to be ready to fight more of them. At least Haven just had demons spilling from the rift until they were gone.

"I prefer the sea. The sea is the most beautiful thing in all the world because wait until you're tired and sore, wanting more answers than anyone can give you. Call Skyhold beautiful when you feel like you've pulled every muscle in your body hiking up there." She was built for climbing buildings and rigging, for walking across the rolling deck of a ship as easily as a street, not snow so white it blinded her. At least it gives her time to recall what was told to her though she was so shocked having almost been skewered by demons that her memory isn't as clear as she'd like. "There was an explosion at a thing they call the Conclave, the Divine died - she's a religious leader, or was - I don't think people really know and I can't blame them for that. It'd be nice to know but we can't have everything. There's a war, or was, but anyway there's a lot of tension still, between mages and templars. That's all I can say for certain, I've met mages and spoken to a Templar or two but a person is always best to learn some things for themselves, no?"

Besides, there's no way she could keep herself free of bias and not in a friendly joking way. Everything about Templars makes her squirm uncomfortably but she won't put that on another newcomer. What he's saying is more interesting as her attention snaps back at him. "Truly? I didn't even know such a thing could be done but you did it prior?" Folk are going to have a field day with him back at Skyhold, she'd bet good silver on that.

"The way you describe the sea is how the sky is to me. The closer I am, the higher up, the better... there's no better feeling than when your feet aren't touching the ground." Kain smirks wryly. "I have experience trekking up mountains, I've lived on one for a while now... I see no difficulty there."

Ok. So perhaps this new world that he's landed in won't be so terrible to deal with after all. He's expected a war or something along those lines, after all why else would he be here? He nods to the rest of that explanation, it's a start on understanding this world. Mages against templars... not quite as clear cut as Chaos versus Cosmos, and he's not so sure he wants to get involved in something that's not his fight. Unless he has to of course. But no one called him here the way Cosmos had.

"I'll have to speak to some of these people... It's hardly my fight to be part of, but I'd rather know what we're dealing with." He may be here for a while, after all, so he'd best expect that for now. "And yes... the first world I was brought into was to fight in a war between two fighting gods. When I..." He trails off, changes the way he phrases that, "...When my part in that war ended, I found myself here instead of home."

“A mountain is more likely to crush you than feed you.” Well there are a few stubborn plants on the way up, those rams that seem to mock them all with how easily they run up and down, a few tiny foxes no bigger than cats. Skyhold itself has fertile ground but it seems odd to her, out of place where it nestles between snow-capped peaks. “I suggest staying away from me if we venture back at the same time, I complained profusely last time, it’s a wonder no one threw me back down it so they’d get some peace.” Well, she wasn’t quite that bad but there was a lot of groaning and sighing the whole time. It’s the one thing she’s not looking forward to going back to Skyhold is the actual going back. “Living on a mountain, you’ll fit right when you can find a spot to claim for your own.”

She’s relieved he’ll talk to others himself, hopefully the folk in Skyhold because people here are tired, cold, wet and miserable, all of them either looking for scouts, dealing with the undead or running around doing whatever is needed of them. Not really conducive to discussions as serious as mage-templar relations.

“No? It is our fight now. We were brought here, we have marks that can affect the rifts. We have a responsibility to help these people. Look around this place - we’ve been here some time now fighting wave after wave of the undead, some of the scouts are missing. Other places are likely in as bad a state.” At least she feels the need to help because it keeps her busy but more because it’s the right thing to do, no questions asked. She might not have asked for any of this but there are others who asked for help, so their lives can go back to normal and all of them are proof of that. “A war between gods? I...I cannot imagine such a thing, the idea of ‘gods’ is still odd, we worship the sea, we love the moon, we know there are a great many things in it and we pray but we don’t use words like that to describe anything.”

“Hardly for me… the mountains are my place, and walking them is easier than breathing for one such as myself… and that includes finding sustenance on them… But as a dragoon, that’s how I am. The sea can drown you, on the other hand… the waves can crush you, pull you under...” He smirks again. “I suppose we have the same feelings toward our own elements.” Indeed, Kain would feel out of place and anxious on a ship, on that sea that stretches out endlessly without a high place to jump to. Whereas at a great height he feels right at home.

He looks at her curiously. “So these marks have some purpose other than being a terrible pain in the ass?” That’s… a relief to hear, in some way, that the annoying pain isn’t for nothing after all. Huh. Interesting. “But I suppose that’s right enough… we’re here and we’re involved whether or not we intended to be. We must make the most of it.” Another land, another war… of a sort. This one has potential to be far more complicated though. “I’d never met a god before that war myself, nor had much dealing with them either… I suppose you could say I’ve always worshipped the sky, and the dragons that dominate it.” He won’t ever make a secret of his affinity for dragons, the helmet does make it obvious. It seems they really do have this thing oddly in common, their bond to their different respective elements. “The gods of this war were Cosmos and Chaos… gods of harmony and discord… and we were called by them to fight.”

“Wait, what is a dragoon?” Her head is full of Thedosian terms right now, she’s not sure it’s wise to add another when her own titles are easier and modest but she’ll try to remember it. “We came from the sea, that’s what we know where I come from, and because the sea gave us life then one day it will take our life. When that day comes, we’ll go home.” Being here where the dead are burned makes her think about it too much, about how easy it would be to die in a strange land and never find her way back, to be turned to ash or buried or just left, not wrapped up the way she should be and weighed down for the sea to take.

“It does get better, please believe me, mine only bothers me if I wake up in the night and find the light distracting or when it glints off these,” she nods to her hip and the ornate hilt of a rapier that obviously will reflect any light and make it seem much brighter. “It sounds like such an angry thing but then war is an old thing where I come from, generations and generations have passed so it’s no longer living memory, though still fresh enough that the ones who came out poorer for it remember keenly and hold anger in their hearts even now. We don’t have angry gods. The sea can be angry and the sky can be angry but all in equal measure; you need a storm to mix the warm waters and the cold so there’s a bounty of green to feed little things that feed big things that all feed us. How does a god call you? I can’t imagine something like that but then sometimes I wonder when I hear the stories here.”

Oh, right. Kain has gotten so used to his companions who knew all about his fighting style by now... even though they too came from worlds without dragoons. "Dragoons are... a specialized type of knight. We fight by leaping into the air and striking down at our enemies... and we admire the dragons, seeking to emulate them in combat." The way Kain talks, his voice filled with pride, it definitely sounds like a dragoon is an important thing to be. To him, it's everything. He shudders a little at the thought of being left in the sea, even after death. At least if you're burned you return to the sky as the smoke drifts upward on the wind... "I'd much rather return to the air, to the sky, after death..."

It leaves him brooding once more on the ending of the fight, of the friends who'd fallen with him. Will the others have already forgotten them by now?

"That's a relief at least." Kain scowls at his mark once more, but decides he'll take her word for it. The whole thing is still so strange, but as long as he can eventually grip a lance without pain, he'll take it. "We had our share of conflicts in my original world as well... someone who tried to destroy us and our world... As for the gods... both of them took us from our worlds, choosing us for our abilities as fighters. I don't know how they found us... but they did." Gods undoubtedly had that kind of power, to see between worlds.

"There are dragons here, I think they thought they were all gone but I was warned of them when I arrived so you should ask about when you reach Skyhold. Or try the library, it has so many books and the very age in this world is called the Dragon Age." Honestly she's amazed she can recall that given she was pretty far into the brandy by the time she and Korrin discussed such things but there you are. "I can't imagine fighting in such a way, in and out fast with blades is my style, climbing up and leaping between buildings to get away. But if you have a way to go? You should probably make sure they know it though I have no idea how you give a person to the air."

Unless you launch a person via cannon but they would still fall and that's just ludicrous in the extreme.

"I need another drink," she mutters, taking a larger swig from her flask because this is going far over her head when just getting to grips with this sort of conflict was enough. "I can't imagine being a pawn in such a way, this is almost as much of an affront to my freedom as I can stomach in that I can still be me and choose where to go and what to do."

"The Dragon Age..." Kain trails off, a very strong hint of curiosity in his tone. Perhaps it truly was fated, meant to be, that he would arrive in this world, after all. He's a dragoon, more or less kin to dragon-kind. His fighting style, everything about him, is meant to emulate them. He could bond with them or meet them on the battlefield as a worthy opponent, either just as likely to happen. So this news is very interesting to hear. "I'll have to look into that... I would like to learn more about this world's dragons."

He nods approval as she talks about fighting. One thing Kain always has respect for is a fellow warrior. "Your fighting style reminds me of someone I know from my world, a ninja. Dual blades certainly can prove formidable..." He has a twinge of nostalgia, and finds himself missing home and Edge of all people. Edge. He lets that sink in. "Anyway, yes, I suppose I will have to determine something, even if it's being burned to let my spirit rise up in the smoke and the flames."

But there is nothing of the sort in the gods' arena, no burial or memories. It's as if they never existed. He wonders if even Cecil has forgotten him by now, his own best friend.

"I considered it an honor to fight for Cosmos, as I was chosen to represent her, but... there were other forces at work as well, and those did make us into pawns. We fought cycles of war that would have been endless had we not sought to stop them." Though he can only hope the cycles are really over now. He may not ever know.

“I just want to see one so I can one day go home and say I did,” she admits, softer than she means to when she spoke of it so boldly in a tavern but it’s more the going home bit because she doesn’t know how that works, the if or when of it, all the people left behind who must be wondering what has become of her, searching and searching without a trace. Better to let the matter drop and focus on more strange words, snorting through her nose as he says it.

“I’ve had mine a long time though they call me a duellist where I hail from and a bravo if I’m strutting around a street looking especially cocky, that’s how such things work. A rapier is an elegant thing but I do like my little knives as well though here, I have no desire to fish them out so there’s no point in using them at all.” But her beautiful pistols, oh how they could do with them when her home is the one place in all their world to have cracked the secret of making a gunpowder that works even when wet because one shot and corpses would drop rather than having to dash in and rely on a mage or archer to clear the ones unwilling to step on the land.

She shrugs lightly, tapping her fingers along her rapier hilts. “If you say so but I would rather it was me that did the choosing when I’m going to have to fight and spill blood.”

Kain can't blame here there. "Dragons are impressive beasts, to be sure... but you must never let your guard down around them. I've fought a fair share of them where I'm from... as a dragoon, it's something I'm trained to do... but even I find them a challenge. I even cared for one, too." He adds that last part in a softer voice. That whole thing is a sad memory to him, the loss of his father and then caring for the ailing dragon... Even now he's disappointed that the practice of raising dragons fell out of favor in his time.

Nodding, Kain is overall well impressed that she seems to know a thing or two about weaponry and using it. Definitely still reminds him of Edge's overall way of fighting. "I favor the lance myself, and it fits the most with my fighting style. But there's something to be said for any sort of blade, in the right hands."

"I don't blame you, truly. If Cosmos weren't... her... I would have had no desire to wage someone else's war, either." There were other complications, of course, like the memory loss. Even now he's only just sorting that all out in his mind. "Sometimes there's not much choice in the matter though. Especially when you're tossed into the middle of it."

Because she’s young, because life has never shown her true hardship, she rolls her eyes and groans like a dying animal. “You sound like a mother when you say things like that, you sound like my mother and if you knew her, you would understand why the thought is so disturbing to me. I wouldn’t go telling folk the latter though, you will be considered strange enough, mark my words.” Maybe being here and helping will do something to make them be viewed with less suspicion but as it stands, she’s all too aware of the scrutiny placed on them.

“You wouldn’t have the room for a lance where I come from unless you learned to walk on water.” After all, the streets were narrow enough he’d hit a building if the weight of it didn’t tip him over and into the waterways and then where would he be?

“And I would wager there was no easy way out? Much like this? Whoever Cosmos were, she must be some woman to inspire such loyalty though I know one myself.” Pretending like this is some assignment from Leandra is impossible really but when she does write down notes, when she spends hours in the library researching, it helps somehow, just a little. It’d be easier if her letters ever had a way to reach her though.

“I’m hardly telling you not to do it, just that you must take dragons more seriously than most anything else you might battle… They can overwhelm even a seasoned warrior, who’s never faced one.” Kain is the last person to back down from a fight, and especially if told it’s a challenge. But he does come to things with as much of a practical mindset as he can. He comes prepared, always. “What’s so strange about caring for dragons? I suppose they don’t do that here? A shame… it fell out of favor back home as well, though.” He never did get one of his own, much as he sometimes deeply wishes he’d had that chance.

“Your world sounds so unusual… it’s probably for the best I didn’t end up there.” He’s never been great in enclosed environments, in general he doesn’t like them, but it also stifles his abilities.

Kain nods to what she says. “Cosmos was truly an inspiration to all of us who fought for her… I feel honored that she chose me. I wish I could have seen how the war ultimately ended… I hope we’ll be victorious.” If Chaos wins, then… everyone there may be doomed. He hates thinking about it. But they have a chance now, after this cycle, so maybe they’ll win.

"Which is why all you tall folk are a boon to someone of my stature who knows very well how to use the shadows to the best of her ability, no? There are plenty of men and women in heavy clanking armour to be roasted first and as the dragon does that, I shall strategically retreat." It's not running away if you phrase it correctly after all. "Well a shark can be noble and respected but a shark would still bite your hand off if it cared to and it will always have the capacity to give you a rather gruesome end. Some things must be viewed with awe if one remembers the whole meaning of the world." Even whales, the great noble figures that they are, treated with a love bordering on worship are to be treated cautiously for even they can have tempers.

"I suppose unusual is better than other words that might be said, when described properly though..." She trails off, sighing as she looks down at the deepening puddle around her feet that she neatly steps out of. "My home is beautiful and alive, like a great beating heart and the waters are the blood to keep the body going."

Araceli does smile at his words because what better way to describe her queen than that, and she knows something of such a choosing though for very different stakes. "No matter how hard it is, take my advice and try to focus on the good things of home and not any worries. You will gain them here and they will breed like rats that got into the grain."

Kain gives a wry sort of an expression as he shakes his head. "Perhaps they end up that way in some worlds, but I'm a dragoon. I'll simply soar above the dragon and hit it with a downward strike. Then while it's reeling from that, I'll land and jump back up to pierce it from below." It may sound completely insane, that someone in such heavy armor could be so light on his feet, could jump that high, but it's entirely the truth. "Though there's something to be said for having a number of different attackers with their own strategies." He nods agreement afterward. "A shark... that's a good comparison to dragons."

He wonders then if anyone would say that of home, especially when separated from it. He'd purposefully left Baron, and had been off on his mountainside for months without so much as missing it. Yet here and now, so completely separated from it, he does miss it, misses watching beautiful sunsets from the highest castle towers.

"I'll take your advice in mind. There's not really anything I can do for anyone back home or in the war's world, from here." So what use would there be, worrying over it?

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terror takes the sound before you make it

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